 Technology transfer centers are successful around the world. The primary objective is to improve transportation safety, mobility, efficiency, and economy. The centers provide innovative methods which result in improved roadway infrastructure, especially benefiting those with no ready access to technical information. Lack of basic roadway planning, design, construction, repair and maintenance processes, especially maintenance skills, has denied essential transportation benefits at the local levels, thereby impacting the general welfare of the population and the general economy. Experience with technology transfer centers around the world has shown the most effective centers are those with freedom to tailor operations to the unique needs of their clientele. Most centers follow a basic pattern that has proved to be widely effective, but each respond in their own way to the needs they identify. Freedom of action is essential. For this reason, it is generally held that the center should have full authority to implement activities as they identify the need under the general management of the National Transportation Agency. It is important that the leader of the program have exceptional management skill. A national transportation agency should coordinate the overall program, provide funding, and help to develop training courses. The center in turn gets advice on the best direction from steering committees made up of leaders of local transportation agencies. It must be recognized that the required experience and trust essential to success does not happen overnight. Nearly one and a half to two years are required to achieve comprehensive operations. However, it has also been shown that the cost benefit is very high for successful centers, establishing an effective technology transfer program includes the planning process, organizing the program, and implementing the program. First is the planning process. It involves establishing your philosophy and goals and forecasting technology transfer needs and related program components. The act of putting your philosophy of technology transfer in writing forces you to analyze the goals, objectives, and policies of the enterprise. A sample statement of philosophy may sound like this. Modern organizations must take responsibility for effective technology transfer to its employees. The technology transfer center exists primarily to provide organizational benefits. Technology must make a difference, a measurable contribution to enterprise goals and objectives. Experimentation is essential to the improvement of technology transfer. Therefore, thoughtful experimentation should be encouraged so that better solutions to technology transfer problems can be found. Next comes forecasting of technology transfer needs and required program components. The manager of the tech transfer center must be able to identify the immediate and long-range needs of the organization for operational, supervisory, and managerial development programs and related technology. This includes resource requirements such as personnel, equipment, facilities, materials, supplies, and budgets. Organization provides the framework for a group of people to work together to attain the goals and objectives of the enterprise. Applied to tech transfer, organizing is the process of identification and grouping needed activities and functions into logical subdivisions and making delegations of authority. The actual organization for your particular agency will depend on local needs and resources available. The most critical task is to implement the tech transfer program. This involves using the most effective communication methods and technology transfer techniques. In order for innovations to be adopted and used, they need to be communicated to the appropriate audience of users. Here, we will deal with the various communication techniques for technology transfer. The most effective communication is one-to-one personal contact. This contact can take many forms. The technical assistance given in the field, at meetings or conferences, on the job, or through the work of a special technology transfer agent. The least successful method of communication is through passive dissemination of printed materials. While printed materials have their role in the transfer process, their format and the specific way in which they are used is extremely important. No one technique is sufficient to guarantee that an innovation will be adopted. Successful technology transfer is directly related to the use of multiple channels of communication. Even one-to-one technical assistance, for instance, is dependent on the use of videotapes, printed materials, newsletters, and technical notices in order to bring the innovation to the attention of potential users. There are a number of basic guidelines to follow in selecting technology transfer techniques. First, it is important to recognize the capabilities of local maintenance personnel to absorb and understand technical information and to work within the constraints of the agencies who develop such material. Accordingly, technology transfer material should be concise, relevant, and credible. Dissemination should be done at a reasonable cost and should fit within the existing relationship between federal, state, and local highway agencies. It should be noted that the characteristics of the people doing technology transfer in highway maintenance are as important as the techniques they use. A positive helping attitude, as well as a clear understanding of the problems faced in local agencies, is essential for any technique to be effective. Local personnel in maintenance often feel that outsiders do not understand their situation. They rely heavily on their peers to get information. This means that the people selected for technology transfer have to be carefully chosen. It also has implications for the conduct of research, in that there is a need to ensure that research problems are defined with a clear understanding of local needs and constraints. A number of tech transfer techniques have been used successfully. They include newsletters, circuit riders, short courses, audio visuals, technical notices, interactive videotapes, video teleconferencing, and electronic bulletin boards. Newsletters are a key method of disseminating information about useful new products and procedures. The term circuit rider is a 19th century American phrase, describing a pioneer preacher assigned to a horseback circuit or route on the frontier. The U.S. Department of Agriculture adopted the term to describe a program through which small rural communities can utilize a professional resource person on a shared basis. In technology transfer, the term is used to describe a similar system where individuals are used to spread innovation. Whether working out of a station wagon, van, or bus, circuit riders typically equip some kind of vehicle with reports, audio visual equipment and materials, and microcomputers, and travel within a specific geographic area visiting local user groups. The skills required for a successful circuit rider are many. Probably the most important and least easy to evaluate or describe is the ability to communicate effectively and deal sensitively with a wide range of people, local officials, federal officials, researchers, planners, and road crews. Circuit riders must also be able to translate technical materials out of jargon and into a language which users can understand. Normally, a research report cannot be used directly as an information manual. Even those users who can understand technical materials tend not to take the time to do so. Circuit riders can interpret technical information for the user and communicate it in several forms to reach local users. There are a number of advantages in using circuit riders to disseminate information. First, circuit riders have a great deal of flexibility in presenting new technologies and techniques. They can speak formally and informally with users, show videos, and leave behind printed materials. They can also offer hands-on experience in areas like computer programs. Also, circuit riders can offer one-to-one assistance. They can spend varying amounts of time in the field explaining new procedures and helping adapt them to local needs. Circuit riders have mobility and can reach a large number of local people at their own meetings on their own grounds. Circuit riders can also survey user groups on local problems and current methodologies. They can make a grassroots appraisal of user needs and, in turn, relay this information back to sponsoring agencies. Many agencies use retired agency personnel as circuit riders. The next technique is conferences and short courses. While there are some differences between conferences and short courses, they are similar enough to be discussed jointly. A conference is generally thought of as an opportunity to exchange information on a general theme, while a short course is an educational program on a more narrow topic. As in the circuit rider approach, the thing that makes conferences and short courses such good channels of communication is the one-to-one contact that occurs among peers. In order to ensure this peer exchange, conferences and short courses must be structured to the needs of the user. In addition to technical needs, conference short course organizers must also take into account other potential user problems, like lack of money for travel and registration, and an inability to be away from the job for more than one or two days at a time. At the local level of highway operations, these time and budget constraints are extremely important. They should be taken into account, not only by individual conference planners, but also by organizations and agencies packaging short course materials. In order for any conference or short course to be effective, certain basic rules should be followed, schedule courses to fit user needs. On the local level, this demands extensive free course planning, carefully plan and advertise courses. Call local agencies directly and find out who would be the most appropriate participants in each area. Take advantage of local networks to reach potential attendees. Give participants as much advanced information about the content of the session as possible. It might prompt them to think about the conference in terms of their own operation and thus enable them to come to the session with specific questions in mind. Do your pre-planning homework and determine what brochures and videos are already available in the subject area. Pick speakers with great care. Emphasize to them the nature of their audience and the goals of the session. In dealing with technical specialists, make certain they do not talk down to or above the heads of the audience. Designate someone ahead of time to keep notes of ideas that emerge spontaneously from formal and informal sessions. Have these typed up and mailed to participants. Always use evaluation tools to help improve future conferences. Such evaluations should address the overall conference objectives and facilities as well as the content and presentation techniques of individual speakers. Audio visuals are another important technique. Communication research indicates that people remember 10 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see, and 50 percent of what they hear and see. Given these percentages, the benefits of using audio visual aids in the transmission of technical information are obvious. There are many types of visual aids available to speakers. They include videotapes, slides, flip charts, easel pads, handouts, chalkboards, and overhead transparencies. Videolending libraries are also used very effectively by many agencies. Videotapes exist on a wide variety of topics. There are some very simple guidelines for using all kinds of visual aids. Visual aids should be relevant and to the point. Prepare displays ahead of time and practice using them. Keep charts, graphs, and diagrams simple and clear. Use color effectively. Too much can cause the essential message to become blurred. Avoid visual busyness by omitting unnecessary details. Make them large enough for easy viewing. Use the visual aids at the best psychological point as clarification of the material and have the display visible only when it is in use so that it does not distract from the rest of the message. Technical notes are also a useful tech transfer technique. For the purposes of this program, a technical notice is a short summary of an innovation that includes a brief description of the innovation. Its purpose is to attract the attention of potential customers, not to describe it in great detail. As such, it is a tool to build awareness among potential users. It should read like a news release rather than a document abstract. Its language should be free from jargon and its style simple and concise. In fact, technical here is a bit misleading as it refers to the nature of the innovation rather than the content of the notice. Besides giving readers the name, address, and phone number of a contact person, it should include a detachable mailer or coupon so the reader can find out more. A representative series of technical briefs were developed under the strategic highway research program. They are available from the United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. Always review individual course results as soon as possible after they have been conducted. Also, the entire program should be reviewed at least annually. In this course, we covered the basic procedures for establishing an effective technology transfer program, including the planning process, organizing the program, and implementing the program. For more information on this or other IRF videotapes, write to the International Road Federation or call the numbers on your screen.